Why DIAL, Netflix &amp; Google's AirPlay Killer, is Not A Killer at All

Michael Wolf
, ContributorI'm searching for the next billion-dollar technology marketOpinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

DIAL in action

This week, there was much talk about how a new technology developed by Netflix and Google would replace Apple's popular AirPlay technology.

Many felt that because the new technology, called DIAL (short for Discovery and Launch), is an open standard and already being integrated by a number of large consumer electronics manufacturers, it would replace AirPlay and a similar technology called Miracast.

But here's the problem: The technologies are fundamentally different and built for different use-cases.

Let me explain. Where they are similar is both technologies are designed to get content on your big screen TV. Where they are different is execution. One, AirPlay, let's you "throw" content from your iPad onto the big screen. DIAL lets you initiate a command from your tablet or smartphone to start a video app on your TV, and also sends the URL to the TV so the TV can access the video directly. Miracast, which is the commercial name for a screen-mirroring technology backed by the Wi-Fi Alliance, is a similar technology to AirPlay

Being able to mirror or stream content from your tablet (as with AirPlay and Miracast) is not the best way to, say, watch a movie on Netflix or YouTube. This is exactly why the two companies developed the standard and why TV companies are embracing it. But mirroring and content "throwing" to your TV IS valuable if you want to, say, show a video you captured on your iPhone, push Angry Birds onto your TV or show a powerpoint.

Hence the need for both AirPlay and Miracast in addition to DIAL.

And in case anyone doubted the technologies will coexist, my recent conversations with Vizio are an illustration of just that. According to Vizio, both DIAL and Miracast will be on all their new connected TV models by end of the year.

Michael Wolf is Chief Analyst at NextMarket Insights. Follow him on Twitter or Facebook.